Lilies mark the spot where irony last stepped
it could have been L.A.
homeboys driving by, blowing flesh into memories
but this sidewalk runs Ottawa’s press
only for a week, then brushed aside
for fresh black roses from foreign gardens

A recent graduate, England cultivated
delivering his PhD to Bell Northern Research
convinced he was in the right place
now, just a red stain on cement
just kids having fun
a stray 22 calibre, such a tiny hole
inches higher or lower
and this flower may not have bloomed


© 1994

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07/28/2016

Author's Note: Nicholas Battersby was a British national, living and working in Ottawa. In a classic case of 'in the right place at the wrong time,' he was gunned down in a random drive-by shooting. With an earlier posting of this poem at the now defunct Poesie.com, his parents (still in Britain) discovered it in a web search, emailed and thanked me for writing it.

Posted on 07/28/2016
Copyright © 2025 Chris Sorrenti